Belief

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT BELIEF - PAGE 5

Stephen Chapman's op-ed piece of Sept. 17 was a voice of sanity in recent discussions about drug abuse. However, in the same newspaper, Republican presidential candidate Pierre DuPont said that his "vision of America" includes annual drug testing for every high school student in America. Back in 1975, in the Republican suburbs, my 5th grade teacher said that the belief that one is innocent until proven guilty sets America above other countries. What outrages me about DuPon`t proposal is his blatant disregard of this fundamentally American belief.

For a different approach to decorating, try a new starting point. Instead of thinking about your favorite color, ponder how you would change the world if you could. The advice comes from Kelee Katillac, a decorator from Kansas City who contends that home should reflect values, dreams and beliefs instead of aping commercial trends. She fills "House of Belief: Creating Your Personal Style" (Gibbs-Smith, $39.95) with questionnaires and self-help exercises that will help touch base with all that you love and come up with ideas like stenciling stairs with the words "preserve" and "observe" or decorating roller blinds with photocopied pictures of women role models.

I certainly agree that airport security workers, given the responsibility involved in their jobs, should receive more than the minimum wage. What I'm not buying is the impression given that job proficiency is proportional to the salary received. I was raised with the belief that if you were fortunate enough to have a job, you should do that job to the best of your ability, regardless of whether you are making minimum wage or a six-figure income. Salary shouldn't motivate.

In his Dec. 14 column Douglas W. Kmiec complains that yet another public institution, in this case the local high school, is denying the existence of God, by "mistaking the guarantee of freedom of religion for the distorted claim of freedom from religion." The local school was right to apologize to district families for the improper mailing of an art contest flyer titled "Keep Christ in Christmas Project." . Though "we are a nation premised upon the unequivocal affirmation of belief in a transcendent God," as Kmiec points out, our individual beliefs in that God should not be assumed to be the same.

Ashley Cleveland Lesson of Love (Reunion)(star) (star) 1/2 After recording two albums that subtly wove faith through self-written songs about everyday life, Christian rocker Ashley Cleveland (a veteran of John Hiatt's band and a college roommate of Pam Tillis) has released a direct statement of belief that relies mostly on the songwriting talents of others. In some cranked-up classic hymns,, full-guitar arrangements allow her and husband/producer Kenny Greenberg to rock, and Cleveland's gritty voice is impressive as ever.

Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila lives by the rush, so naturally he wanted the 300 DVDs to be delivered overnight. This was last May. Green Bay's career leader in sacks considered it urgent for every Packer employee, from the receptionist to Brett Favre, to own a personal copy of the 2006 motion picture "Facing the Giants." "I went to [coach] Mike McCarthy, showed him a highlight of it and he looked at it and said, 'Good,'" Gbaja-Biamila recalled Wednesday in the Packers locker room. "So I passed it out to the guys."

Regarding the letter "Voodoo used to control Haitians" (Voice, Feb. 20): In it, Reynold Ducasse asserted that vodou (not "voodoo") is the religion of the poor and a driving force of the uneducated masses. He also asserted that those who continue to promote vodou as a cultural heritage are narrow-minded and contribute to the detriment of the image and future of Haiti. I believe Mr. Ducasse is out of touch with reality and lacks the cultural knowledge that most of us Haitian-Americans are proud to possess.

By Kenneth L. Woodward. Kenneth L. Woodward is a contributing editor at Newsweek where he served as religion editor for 38 years | July 2, 2002

California Judge Alfred T. Goodwin was wise in putting a stay on his federal appeals court ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because of the phrase, "one nation, under God." His ruling does the non-believer no favors. Unlike belief, non-belief is purely negative; consequently, there are precious few opportunities a non-believer has in our society to profess his or her non-belief in God. And as any believer knows, the inability to express your faith is tantamount to denying our 1st Amendment rights to express one's faith.